Employment Law
Equal Pay
A one-day course
This course is aimed at professionals with a good working knowledge of the general principles of discrimination. It is designed to provide guidance on the current state of the law relating to equal pay with particular reference to current issues regarding major reorganisations in pay systems. It will consist of a series of PowerPoint presentations conducted in an open and participative style with discussion and debate encouraged throughout
- Welcome and Introduction
- Setting objectives for the day
- The Equal Pay Framework
- Equal pay and international law
- The European dimension and Article 141
- The Equal Pay Act and the Sex Discrimination Act
- Equal Work
- Like work
- Work rated as equivalent – job evaluations and the single status process
- Work of equal value
- The Equality Clause
- Identifying comparators - predecessors and successors
- Operation of the equality clause
- Swings and roundabouts – clause by clause comparison or an overall view?
- The Genuine Material Factor Defence
- Establishing the defence
- Is there a need to provide justification?
- The European view of justification
- The GMF Defence – continued
- Market forces
- Seniority and length of service
- Productivity bonuses and additional payments
- Collective bargaining history
- Performance-related pay
- Equal Pay Litigation
- Employment Tribunal procedures
- Equal value and the independent expert
- Large-scale claims
- Time limits
- Remedies and back-pay
- Key strategic issues for public sector employers
- The role of trade unions in pay reform – the Stefan Cross effect
- Equal Pay audits – the legal downside
- Implementing changes in pay systems